Manager, Commercial Operations
About the role
The Manager of Commercial Operations is a player-coach. You will be hands-on enough to run live customer contract negotiation and day-to-day deal support, and senior enough to stand up the processes, tooling, and governance the function will run on as it grows. You will own customer-facing contracting immediately, then build out deal desk and pricing governance.
Responsibilities
Customer contract operations
- Own customer-facing contracting end to end — MSAs, SOWs, DPAs, order forms, and redlines — from first draft through signature.
- Run our contract management platform as the system of record; keep the clause library, templates, and negotiation playbooks current and usable.
- Own renewal management, protecting at-risk bookings and keeping renewals from slipping through the cracks.
- Operate the commercial review gate on non-standard terms, working with outside counsel on strategic and specialist matters while routing routine work internally.
Deal desk & pricing support
- Support live deals as a partner to Sales — turning around contract and pricing questions quickly without becoming a bottleneck.
- Help structure deals and apply pricing and discount guidance consistently, escalating non-standard terms before they reach signature.
- Stand up a repeatable deal desk over time: approval thresholds, pricing frameworks, and clean deal data feeding billing and revenue recognition.
Process design & operational discipline
- Document the playbooks, workflows, and controls the function runs on so the work no longer depends on any one person.
- Improve cycle time and consistency — find the friction in how deals get done and remove it.
- Build processes that scale with the business rather than ones that have to be rebuilt every time volume grows.
Cross-functional coordination & stakeholder management
- Partner closely with Sales, Finance, Security, Product, and Leadership — translating commercial intent into sound terms.
- Act as the credible point of contact when deals get complex or contentious, balancing speed for the business with protection of its interests.
- Manage the outside-counsel relationship: route routine matters internally, reserve counsel for strategic and specialist work, and control spend.
Reporting & visibility
- Give leadership a clear view of contracting throughput, cycle time, renewal exposure, and where non-standard terms are concentrating.
- Surface pricing and discount trends so the business can see margin impact and act before it drifts.
Qualifications
7–10+ years of relevant experience across Commercial Operations, Deal Desk, Contract Operations, Revenue Operations, Legal Operations, Sales Operations, Procurement, or a closely related function.
Hands-on experience negotiating and managing customer commercial agreements (MSAs, SOWs, DPAs, order forms) end to end.
A track record of managing people, processes, or cross-functional programs — you have built or run something, not just executed within someone else's system.
Demonstrated ability to design and document repeatable processes and controls, and to improve cycle time and consistency.
Sound commercial and contractual judgment operating without (or alongside, not inside) an in-house legal team, including managing outside counsel.
Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to hold a credible review-and-approval position across Sales, Finance, and Leadership.
Preferred qualifications
Experience in B2B SaaS or technology, ideally with multi-year, multi-entity, or international contracting.
Pricing governance and deal-desk experience — discount thresholds, approval frameworks, and protecting margin without slowing deals.
Familiarity with Salesforce and CLM / contract lifecycle management tooling.
Exposure to vendor management, procurement, and third-party risk workflows.
Working knowledge of data privacy (GDPR, CCPA, and emerging state and AI rules) and security frameworks such as ISO 27001.
A history of building scalable business processes in a growing organization.